


blood brothers

by angelsprunch



Category: IT (2017), IT - Stephen King
Genre: M/M, They fight a lot, Violence Warning, a buncha fools, and I hate them, and blood warning, and idiots, they're assholes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-09
Updated: 2018-02-09
Packaged: 2019-03-15 19:10:41
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,449
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13619847
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/angelsprunch/pseuds/angelsprunch
Summary: bill and richie don’t say they’re dating but they kiss and they fight. their relationship isn’t one that the other’s understand or event try to.





	blood brothers

**Author's Note:**

> this is vvv loosely based off of blood brothers by nicole dollanganger. also i heard it was bichie week so here??? this is a big mess just to warn u and also warning for blood and violence

Richie looked at his hand with a faint white scar and then look up at Bill with a small smile. While he didn’t remember the specifics of how he got the scar, Richie knew it was important. All of the losers had a similar one on their palm and while it made him feel closer to all of them, there was something special about how it made him feel about Bill. Bill was currently hunched over a spiral notebook and Richie tapped his spine to encourage him to sit up a bit straighter. Bill offered a smile in return as Richie leaned against Bill and grabbed his GameBoy from his backpack. The two sat in silence for a while except for the sound of Bill’s pencil against paper or the music from Richie’s game. Sometimes they spent time just like this. They would each be doing their own thing and simply appreciating the other’s silent company. Every now and again Richie would nudge Bill to ask which Pokemon he should use and Bill would ask Richie if a sentence flowed nicely. **  
**

Other days wouldn’t go so smoothly. They’d be in a pile on the couch and neither boy would know where his body ended and the other’s began. They’d be wrestling over the remote because Bill wanted to watch a movie while Richie wanted to watch cartoons. It almost always ended with one of the boys pushing the other off the couch and resulted in a full on brawl. Richie would be staring up at a blurried Bill while his glasses lay forgotten beside his head. His mouth tasted like blood and he’d grab the front of Bill’s shirt to pull him in for a heated kiss. Bill pulled away after a moment and wiped his mouth on the back of his hand, ignoring the smear of blood that came with it. He never knew if it was his own or Richie’s. “We’re still going to watch a movie.” he said as he climbed off the other boy and dove for the remote before Richie could protest.

When they were sixteen, before they ever considered dating each other, they were lying in Bill’s bed and they were daydreaming out loud. Richie got a bit too wrapped up in his daydream and rolled off the bed. He landed with a thud and his arm got cut on the way down. Neither boy was able to find out where the cut came from but Bill frowned at the blood. “Relax, Big Bill. It isn’t like you’ve never seen me bleed before. Most times I’m bleeding because of you.” he teased. Bill continued to frown as he moved off the bed to kneel beside Richie. His hand went to the drawer of his night stand and he grabbed the pocket knife that his father had given him for his ninth birthday. Before Richie could process what was happening, Bill cut an identical mark into his arm and looked at Richie’s arm once more before putting the knife away.

“Blood brothers.” he said softly as he grabbed a shirt that had been haphazardly thrown on his floor to wrap it around Richie’s arm. Richie opened his mouth to ask for more of an explanation but he met Bill’s wild eyes and he understood. It wasn’t something Richie could put into words and despite Bill’s vocabulary being much larger than his, he believed Bill lacked the words for it as well. A great sense of adoration overcame Richie for his friend, but it was also something more. He didn’t have any words for the feelings turning his stomach over. Richie’s eyes glanced down to the shirt that was slowly being stained red and back at Bill’s wild, sleepy face. It felt like a dream as Richie leaned in and hesitantly caught Bill’s lips with his own.

Bill stiffened and Richie pulled away with a look of horror, shocked that he had even done that. His hands let go of Richie’s arm, though, and Bill moved to grab the collar of Richie’s shirt and pulled him in close for another kiss. This one had more certainty behind it and it had a hunger that Richie had only experienced before with alcohol coursing through his veins and an attractive person sitting in his lap. Blood trickled down Bill’s arm and left a few drops on his stained carpet. It was Richie that pulled away this time and he pulled the t-shirt off of his own arm to wrap around Bill’s. Neither boy thought about the possibility of transferring diseases as Richie wrapped Bill’s arm in the already bloodstained shirt.

“Blood brothers.” Richie agreed. A few kisses later they were giggling and Bill stood up, holding a hand out for Richie. Richie accepted it and Bill pulled him to his feet. They walked to the bathroom and didn’t even try to be quiet for Bill’s sleeping parents. Bill sat Richie on the edge of the tub and looked through his medicine cabinet while he decided how to patch him up. This would be a lot easier with Eddie there to guide him, but some things were best done without him screeching about germs. After a moment Bill shrugged and put some cream on his finger and smeared it on the cut before finding a large bandaid and pressing it to Richie’s skin. He moved to do the same for himself, but Richie stopped him. Instead, Richie did what Bill did. Once both boys were patched up they shared a messy kiss and stumbled back to Bill’s bedroom.

The next day when Ben asked about their matching bandaids, Eddie screeched and scolded the boys about how filthy that was. He warned them about diseases that could be transferred by blood and called them idiots. The others simply laughed and moved on and after Eddie’s rant, he shot them each a glare and huffed before looking at the other’s, helplessly, for backup. Backup didn’t come and the subject was dropped when Mike announced that he was planting sunflowers this weekend and needed help. They went back into regular conversation, but Richie bumped Bill’s elbow with his and shot him a devilish smile. “You didn’t share the whole story.” he whispered, breath tickling Bill’s ear. Bill’s ears reddened and he elbowed Richie, pushing him away. Richie raised an eyebrow at this and tackled Bill to the ground with a delighted laugh. “You want another go, Denbrough?” he said as he put his hands on Bill’s chest. For them it was innocent enough but no one wanted to clean up blood so Mike and Beverly pulled Richie away with a sigh.

When they were seventeen Richie started to pull away from the group. It didn’t matter how hard everyone pushed and pulled and pleaded, he was just slowly fading away. At first it was discussed as a problem with a clear solution but the more he drifted, the more the losers realized that they were losing Richie. He was getting into more and more fights and Bill was starting to think that the bruises on his cheeks were permanent. He was breaking so many pairs of glasses that his mother stopped buying him new ones. It was between third and fourth period when he caught sight of the unruly mess that Richie Tozier had turned into. That wasn’t to say that he hadn’t always been an unruly mess, but before it was something that at least made sense to Bill. Bill took one look at the broken glasses, swollen lip, and the purple bruise under his left eye before he ducked into his class as Richie approached one of the jocks in their grade in search of a fight.

At the end of the school day Bill saw his friend– were they even friends anymore? Richie was sitting on the curb by the busses smoking. Bill halted and for a moment he forgot what he was doing as his feet carried him to the mess of curly dark hair. Bill sat down beside him and didn’t say anything as he plucked the cigarette from Richie’s slender fingers and took a drag. “Get your face smashed in yet today?”

“Nope, but it’s only three.” he replied as he snatched the cigarette back and punched Bill’s shoulder. This brought a smile to Bill’s lips as he remembered the friend that he had. Part of him craved that, but he wasn’t sure that Richie was the same person that he knew a year ago.

Biting his lower lip, Bill shifted closer to Richie and caught sight of the scar on his right forearm. Bill remembered that he had one identical to it. “Come over.” It came out as more than a demand than a question and Bill genuinely didn’t know which way he meant it. Richie cast a sideways glance at the redhead before he shrugged. Taking one last drag, Richie flicked the cigarette onto the sidewalk and stepped on it with the heel of his tattered sneakers.

“Worst case scenario I suppose you can beat me up. I know how to piss you off and you throw a good punch.” Richie teased as he tugged his backpack on and stood up. Bill got up as well and led the way to his house. It was empty which was far from surprising to him. Bill pulled the housekey from his backpack and opened the door, kicking off his shoes and watching as Richie copied his actions. “So, why are you inviting me over, Billiam?” Richie asked, dropping his backpack on the floor with a thud. He looked at Bill with that same childhood curiosity that he had when they were all ten. He looked at Bill as if he hadn’t spent the last six months avoiding him.

“I know what you’re doing.” Bill started, holding up a hand when Richie gave him a confused look. “You’re trying to get hurt. Maybe even kill yourself with all this stupid fucking fights that you pick. I want you to know that I won’t ever let you do it, though. Sure, get your ass handed to you as much as you wanted. I’ll always be watching, though. If it starts to go too far, I’ll be there. I’ll clean you up and I’ll kiss it better. Maybe I can’t fix all the bruises on the inside, maybe I can’t fix everything making you do this, but I’ll fucking try.” he said, shrugging off his own backpack and setting it on the steps. Richie stared at Bill for a moment before he nodded with a bit of hesitance. “We’re blood brothers. Your demons are my demons, too.” Bill said after a moment, turning to look at Richie.

Richie was quiet for a while and he looked at his bloodied knuckles and dirty fingernails before looking back at Bill and nodding. “Blood brothers.” he repeated. Bill grabbed his shoulder and pulled him into a tight hug that Richie returned almost immediately. They stayed like that for a few moments before Bill lead him to the bathroom so he could attempt to clean up some of the mess that Richie made of himself. He didn’t have Eddie’s medical knowledge or Stan’s knack for being clean, but he tried. Bill put cream and bandaids on the open wounds. He borrowed his mother’s brush to brush out the knots in Richie’s hair. He took his glasses and used more tape than he’d like to admit in an attempt to piece them back together. They still sat crookedly on Richie’s face, but his smile was a bit brighter.

Once Richie looked a bit better he wrapped his arms around Bill and pressed his nose into his neck. Bill laughed breathlessly and patted Richie on the back, but it wasn’t enough for him. “Do you remember when we kissed?” Richie asked after a moment as he pulled away to look at Bill. An expression flashed across Bill’s face, but Richie didn’t even try to read it as he was leaning in to kiss Bill. He backed him up against the sink and pressed his hips against Bill’s. It was hungry and desperate, but he pulled away before Bill could tug him back in. “It wasn’t quite like that, but you get the idea.” he smirked, looping his fingers in the belt loops on Bill’s jeans.

“I think I need another reminder.” Bill insisted as he tugged Richie back in by his hair. That evening the got reacquainted with each other and even got to learn new sides of the other. The morning light filtered through the thin curtains of Bill’s bedroom window and he saw Richie’s freckled back beside him in his small twin bed. Pressing a few soft kisses to Richie’s shoulders, Bill tries to wake the other boy. Richie groans and buries his head deeper into the pillows and Bill simply laughs. “Get dressed. I think my parents are downstairs and I don’t know if they’d notice, but I don’t want to risk explaining this to them.”

They’re eighteen and to everyone’s surprise, Richie actually filled out applications for college. Not only did he get into a school in California, he got a paid internship on a popular radio show in Southern California. Ben got into a school for architecture somewhere in the South. Mike was staying in Derry and watching over the library. Eddie was off to New York City and Beverly was off to Chicago with a fashion internship. Stan got accepted into a college in Georgia and Bill was going abroad for his writing. Richie had been welcomed back into the losers club with open arms about nine months before graduation and they all tried to make up for the lost time as best they could. It was as if they all knew that they were going to be splitting up really soon.

There had been a sleepover at Bill’s house and he looked at his friends sleeping in his living room before he poked Richie’s sides in an attempt to wake him. “Hey…” he whispered, shaking the other boy. “Asshole. You’re snoring in my ear and drooling on me.” he said, pinching Richie’s arm. Richie’s eyes fluttered open and his sleepy expression quickly turned into that of a glare. Bill laughed and pressed a gentle kiss to Richie’s parted lips. “Soon we aren’t going to see each other anymore.” he whispered between them.

“I think you’ll cope. It isn’t a huge loss for you.” Richie mumbled, nuzzling his head into Bill’s neck. Bill frowned and slipped thin fingers under Richie’s shirt to run his nails up and down the other boy’s back. “Me on the other hand? Where will I ever find someone as handsome as Big Bill?”

“I’m going to miss you.” Bill said, ignoring Richie as he pressed a kiss to the top of his head. Richie lifted his head to kiss Bill. The kiss started off gentle but it quickly grew hungry and Bill ended up pulling away with shallow breathing. “We’re literally surrounded by our friends.” he warned, but Richie got up and grabbed Bill’s wrist. He tugged him upstairs and that’s where the other’s found them. Only a blanket covering them as they were tangled in each other and asleep.

It got bad a week before Richie was supposed to leave for California. Beverly and Eddie had already said their goodbyes and left. Ben, Mike, Stan, Bill, and Richie were left. Stan was supposed to go in a few days and Ben was due to leave at the end of the month. Bill didn’t know why he opted to stay the entire summer, but he did. He figured he could have some more time with Mike before everyone moved on. One day it was just Bill and Richie hanging out. They had agreed to not talk about Richie leaving to save them both the pain but it was growing harder and harder for Bill to pretend that he wasn’t going to lose him. “You know that I love you, right?” Richie had asked as the sun shone into Bill’s childhood room. Bill was hunched over a drawing while Richie leaned against him and played Pokemon. Richie perked up a bit and tapped Bill’s spine to remind him to straighten up which Bill did.

“You what?” he asked, setting his pencil down to look at Richie. Or was he looking at his boyfriend?

“I love you. I’m in love with you.” Richie shrugged as if it were common knowledge.

Bill frowned and ran a hand through his hair. Some of it was almost touching his eyebrows and he sighed softly as he continued to stare. “That isn’t fair.” he finally said, taking Richie’s GameBoy and shutting it. He was careful to not turn the power off and risk losing his progress.

“Why isn’t it fair? Am I not allowed to love you?” he replied, moving to face Bill with an expression resembling anger.

“Not when you’re leaving in a week! Not when I don’t know if I’ll ever see you again! That isn’t fucking fair, Richie.”

“Then I take it back. I don’t love you.”

“You’re just lying now.”

“What the fuck do you want me to say, Denbrough.”

“I don’t want you to say anything.”

Richie stared at Bill for a few moments before he frowned and shook his head. There were about a million emotions fighting in the bit of his stomach. Richie didn’t have the words that Bill had to express him so he shoved Bill and got to his feet. Bill shot a glare at Richie. His mind was full of things to say to Richie, insults to hurl at him. He didn’t have the grace or the emotional maturity to properly express it, though. Instead Bill got to his feet and grabbed Richie’s collar, delivering a quick punch to his jaw. Both boys stared at each other for a moment in pure shock before Richie lunged at Bill. There wasn’t much thought behind it just limbs flying and the occasional shout when one of them got a good hit in. Eventually Bill was sitting on Richie’s stomach and he had his hand drawn back to deliver another blow, but he caught sight of the scar on Richie’s forearm from when they were younger. When they shared their first kiss.

Climbing off of Richie, Bill didn’t look at him. “Get out.” he said and Richie obeyed for once without talking back. Bill sat in his bed while he let the scenes of the last twenty minutes play over in his head. Richie loved him. Richie was in love with him. Bill loved him back, of course. It was more than he was able to recognize. It wasn’t fair for all of this to come up six days before they’d never see each other again, though. Bill’s eyes fell on the scar on his hand and then travelled up to the scar on his forearm. “Blood brothers.” he mumbled bitterly as he got up and picked up his drawing from the floor. It was a sketch of Richie from one of the mornings that he woke up to see the boy dozing in bed beside him.

The week came and went without them speaking. Richie left Derry without a goodbye to Bill and he wanted to be angry, but Bill didn’t have it in him to be angry with the other boy. More than any of the other emotions making his stomach churn, Bill missed Richie. He missed his stupid freckled face and his dumb crooked grin. He missed the jokes that never failed to make him laugh and the kisses that were always a little bit too wet. Mike brought it up a few times, but Bill refused to talk about it. At the end of the summer, Bill packed his things up and bid farewell to Mike. He was off in college and he did his best to put Richie in the back of his mind.

Halfway through his first semester, Bill was drawing someone in his sketchbook. His roommate was taking notes at the desk in their dorm and Bill got up to grab an eraser from the desk. His roommate caught sight of the scar on his forearm and frowned a bit. “Where’d you get that from?” he asked.

Bill pulled away and stared at the scar for a few moments. Something in his heart ached, but he couldn’t pinpoint why. Blood came to his mind and a grin with crooked teeth. It didn’t make sense to Bill, but it did make him sad. “Blood brothers.” was all he said as he retreated back to his bed.


End file.
